There are still several hours before the polls close. That’s plenty of time to educate yourself about the various candidates, propositions, amendments, referendum, retentions, and whatever else is on the ballot before voting.

You can use Google Maps or the website of your county’s clerk to find where to go if you don’t already know.

Depending on which state you’re in, you might get paid time off work to vote.

Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s, Krispy Kreme, Chik-Fil-A and several others are giving away freebies on election day.

One more thing: DEMOCRATS FTW!

I handed out candy for Halloween for the first time this year. Quite a few brats out and about. Got irritated and turned off the light before handing out all of the bags. Managed to get around 90 of the 100 out though. Never again. I only really did it this time for the novelty of it as I’ve never lived in a neighborhood that trick-or-treaters came to.

So, 7/11 is doing this poll thing where customers can choose to get their coffee in a blue cup if they support Obama, red for McCain, or white for undecided/other. According to this poll, Obama has a huge lead over McCain here in Utah. Unfortunately, the majority of people in this state don’t drink coffee, because the LDS church prohibits drinking hot beverages.

Anyway, it seems simple enough. It’s a very unscientific poll of coffee drinkers who patronize 7/11. However, there seems to be some confusion in a forum I follow sometimes. Several members thought that by choosing a cup, they really were casting their vote in the election! *sigh*

Imagine that you are taking a class. You work really hard to do well in the class and end up with an average grade, a B or C. A couple of rows behind you (when they show up) are a bunch of really rich kids. They skip class, blow off assignments, do really poorly on tests. They’re going to fail. It’s a given. Except that their parents have given huge donations to the school’s board of trustees. The dean steps in and says, we can’t allow you to fail. It would have too big of an effect on our budget. So what we’re going to do is put the grades on a curve. All of your bad grades are wiped out, everyone passes with at least a C. That grade that you worked so hard for is now worth much less.

This is exactly what is going on with the big bailout the government is working on. The banks aren’t allowed to fail because they are too big. Billions of dollars are being pumped in to save them which makes the average person’s dollar worth less. This is inflation.

The dollar will continue to lose value until it fails completely. If a large nation like China dumps their dollars, it will happen sooner.  Prices will continue to rise, making it much harder for the average worker to afford basic needs such as food and a place to sleep.

Personally, I think these banks should be allowed to fail. For something so large to topple so completely means that it was a bad system to begin with. It appears that these institutions employed very poor practices in order to turn the largest profit. Now it’s come back to bite them. Let it. Allowing them to continue this is just wrong and will only hurt us in the end.

This is the third in (hopefully!) a long series of interviews. The questions were randomly selected from a list of more than sixty questions using Random.org’s number generator. If you’re interested in participating, please leave a comment on this entry. This week’s interviewee is Aisling.

What is your opinion on medications treating such disorders as depression and ADHD and
the frequency that these are prescribed?

I think that they can be useful, but should not be used as a permanent solution. There
is no reason for children to be drugged out to the point where they cannot function, for
example. (more…)

This is the second in (hopefully!) a long series of interviews. The questions were randomly selected from a list of more than sixty questions using Random.org’s number generator. If you’re interested in participating, please leave a comment on this entry. This week’s interviewee is Clem.

(more…)