Debt Free

Kudos, Dittos and Great Americans to the 7-Eleven Corp for growing some gonadians and booting Petrol de Chavez. That little bit of standing on their principles will doubtlessly cost them many millions of dollars. Hell, it'll cost them that just to change the Citgo signage. Hopefully their new fuel sources will be more enlightened. There's a good chance they thought that principles had only a little to do with it, however. Analysis probably indicated that Americans would look elsewhere for gas, given Senor Chavez' attitude. Another possibility is that they felt sales would increase enough to make up for the incurred expenses. They could, if enough folks are looking to buy their fuel from 7-11 sans Citgo, due to the slap in Chavez' face. Company sources indicated they will switch their fuel sourcing to Tower Energy Group of Torrance, Calif., Sinclair Oil of Salt Lake City, and Houston-based Frontier Oil Corp. for their 2,100 gas stations in the U.S. One can only hope that none of the aforementioned distributors sip from Citgo's wells either.

In the “Strange Statistic of the Day” department, one only needs to take a look at the breakdown of U.S. congressional districts on the basis of married with children vs. single/divorced with no kids in the household. In a startling affirmation of the value differences displayed by Democrats and Republicans, 49 of the 50 congressional districts with the highest percentages of married households with children living at home are represented by Republicans. Of the 50 congressional districts with the lowest percentages of the same, 48 are represented by Democrats!

What does it all mean? On the surface, it might appear that the party of family values is really what it says. It could also indicate that young, single people are more impressionable, have less life experience, and are more idealistic, especially with other people's money. (Leave aside for just a second that the current, Republican controlled administration spends money like a group of lottery-winning frat boys in a celebrity whorehouse) They may have been swayed by the Democratic message(????) of the day and younger, more charismatic Democratic congressional members. After all, of the 34 members of the U.S. House of Representatives over the age of 70, the majority, nineteen, are Republicans. Younger, single Americans may have a bit of trouble relating to those of such advanced age.

It may also be influenced in part by the fact that there are more single Democrats in congress than single Republicans, and people tend to choose those to represent them who are closer to their own image. In the 107^th Congress, the last for which I could find figures (without actually doing a ton of work on my own), there were 66 single members in the House. Of the 66 singles, 24 rode elephants, while the remaining 42 pranced around on braying asses.

Demographics in the respective states also indicate some reasons for the split. New York, most definitely a “blue” state, has the highest percentage of unmarried residents, fifty percent. The town with the highest percentage of unmarried people living together, Patterson NJ, is likewise from a blue region. San Francisco, Ft. Lauderdale, and Seattle had the highest percentages of unmarried, same sex couples shacking up. Again, deeply blue metro areas all. Seattle and San Francisco have the lowest number of children of any major U.S. metro area. They are also two of the most liberal cities you could ever find, and count a Democratic majority as their Congressional representation. Seattle even has more dogs than children.

As more people with kids decide it's better to raise their children in an area with a bit of open space, a soccer field or two, and a 4 bedroom house on 8,500 sq ft, rather than a two bedroom condo in a high rise for for their $399,000, those with children are fleeing America's largest cities. This trend engenders much hand wringing, especially among the NEA and big city school districts, who see every child leaving the city as another $5K that got away. As more schools close every day in cities throughout America, it becomes apparent that many just don't get it among the liberal elites that tend to govern most of the larger cities throughout our land. Most families with children don't have a great desire to be packed together like sardines. And so, the trend will continue, despite all the social engineering those in positions of power can muster. But that's a story for another day.