GeekPol's evil twin

Things that irritate me

Besides having a Congressman from my own party who's an unindicted coconspirator? District drawing. Texas got the big news when they re-redrew the districts to Tom Delay's liking. As a result, there are six congressmen in and around Travis County. It dilutes it a bit, giving a 3-3 split in that area, with one of the Dems being the odious Henry Cuellar, who ousted Ciro Rodriguez by not very much.

Texas isn't the only place that got the GOP treatment. Austin's a big town and growing fast.

Reading, PA, on the other hand, is not. It's an old industrial center with some steel industry and some agriculture (mushrooms are big there). About 80,000 live in the city proper.

Now then Central PA tends to lean a bit to the right. Reading bucks that trend. Reading was represented for years by the late Gus Yatron (D), a rather colorful onetime prizefighter from Reading. So, as a reward (or punishment) for being GOP-incorrect, they get split up into three districts. If you look at the National Atlas district lines as close up as possible, you can tell that the GOP-controlled assembly really did its work making sure that Reading wasn't represented. (Caution: pdf)

OK done venting.