I don’t understand people who register to vote and then don’t. Ok, maybe it makes a little sense if mail-in ballots aren’t allowed, but that’s not the case in Washington state. Time is on the voters side.

And I can also understand, although I strongly disagree, with people like my wife who doesn’t register and doesn’t vote. At least these people are being consistent. I’ve been working on the voting thing with my wife to try and convince her of the importance of voting, how one vote can make a difference. It’s an uphill climb. You’d think it would be a lot harder convincing people who aren’t registered to vote to get registered and then start voting than to get the people already registered to vote.

You’d think.

And the day after the election I’m combing through the Washington state 2007 General Results and seeing that an abysmal 28.43% of the registered voters turned out to vote yesterday. That’s roughly 1 in 4 people who are registered to vote that aren’t doing it.

I don’t get it. Here’s a picture of the state’s results in case you didn’t follow the link above:

I’m starting to wonder what, if anything, I can do to encourage more of the registered voters in this state to vote? In our county alone there was less than the state average.

As readers following this blog closely know, I’m becoming more interested in politics in expectation of the 2008 Presidential election. I’m trying to become more educated about the issues and the candidates. At least in our area and state it appears voter turnout is another issue that needs focus. Should I be out with picket in hand on election day reminding folks to vote? I’ve never done any picketing, but wonder if that would work?

How was voter turnout in your area?

Feels like I’m way behind today with over 100 items on my RSS reader and a long to-do list, but I got in and voted early today. Fewest number of people I’ve ever seen at the polls. There were three, including me, at the local polling place (a church). I imagine more and more people are mailing in their votes for convenience but prefer to go to the polls.

As for how I voted? Pretty much across the board voted down every tax increase. I’m feeling taxed to death and tired of the mismanagement of money at the state and federal level. I also voted down all the extended terms for candidates. I prefer shorter terms for people in office over longer ones. There are times — like now — where I wish the President was a one term gig instead of two. Fresh faces needed.

Washington Ref. 67: Insurance companies vs. attorneys
The major issue on the ballot is Washington’s Ref. 67 where the insurance companies in the against camp are saying if passed will raise rates and the lawyers are saying is necessary to prevent insurance companies from not paying fair claims. Being it’s the four year anniversary of my wife and son being hit in the middle of the crosswalk, I can speak from firsthand experience on this issue. Her insurance claim was sizable. Her medical bills alone were in the tens of thousands and the original company which shall remain nameless originally offered less than the amount of medical bills to settle. My wife did consider getting an attorney at one point when things seemed to be at their worst in the claim but didn’t want to pay 30% or more of the settlement to them when she was the one who was being told even after surgery she might have to live the rest of her life with some amount of pain.

When it became clear my wife wasn’t getting better and surgery was imminent the woman who hit her insurance company did the right thing and paid the policy limits. Because the woman wasn’t adequately insured, we still needed to go under our own underinsured motorist coverage to get the rest of the medical bills paid.

Our own insurance company was very fair with my wife’s insurance settlement.

There really was never any negotiating, per se. The adjuster asked my wife what she wanted and she gave them a number. And after reviewing her thick file and realizing that she was still in pain after surgery, they gave her more. I realize there are cases where some people do not receive fair settlements from insurance companies, but that’s never been the case for us. It’s easy to point at the insurance company and say they are some big, evil organization, but the same could be said of big legal firms.

This is why I voted down Washington’s Ref. 67. I don’t need my premiums going up to pay more money out in claims. The insurance companies already get enough of our money and I believe they will treat us fair if/when we should ever need to use their service — as we did with my wife and son being hit in the middle of the crosswalk.

I’m still disappointed that the woman who hit them, and again she didn’t have enough insurance to pay for all the bills, was able to literally walk away without any requirement to pay back the money our insurance company paid us. She lives less than two blocks from our office and has never chosen to stop by and see how my wife was feeling and apologize for her gross negligence. How much does an apology cost? Please forgive me for repeating this complaint I made originally in May of this year.

Enough remembering an ugly incident in time, unless you want to comment on the mysteriousness of the woman’s behavior below, let’s get back to those touch screens.

Did you try touch screen voting today?
At the polls they offered me the option to try the new touch screen and I passed. Extremely unusual for me to pass on using new technology, but in this case I like the old fashioned paper ballots and ink. Perhaps my reservations over using electronic polling aren’t justified? Maybe I should try them next time?

For those readers who voted today, which method did you use to vote? If touch screen voting was an option did you use that? Why not?

Good “observation piece” as my friend darkmoon puts it who is one of the people behind the ConvergeSouth conference that just finished in Greensboro, North Carolina. I’ve never traveled to the states southeast of Chicago, IL so my comments at least in part in this post are based on looking at how the southern states vote historically in elections: predominantly red (Republican, 2004 election results below).

This logically suggests to me if/when I visit these places I’ll encounter a higher percentage of conservative-leaning people than liberals which are everywhere in this neck of the woods (greater Seattle area). Understood. If I travel to France, I’m probably going to run into a higher percentage of French speaking people. Travel to Mexico and Spanish speaking people will be in higher numbers. Got it.

Darkmoon writes:

Year after year, we always do damage control with people that diss the conference. Usually they’re from people that didn’t go to the conference but insist that there’s some unsaid political agenda. We invite people that use the technology to push their voice and thus fulfilling the vision of the conference. Yet somehow or another, people keep coming back to how it’s more left… and more progressive.. yadda yadda.

As someone who has criticized conferences in the past that I haven’t attended — for lack of perceived value, never for political reasons — I find this a curious subject. We all attend conferences for our own reasons expecting to get something out of them. Maybe it’s more business contacts, more contacts period. It certainly isn’t the WiFi at conferences, because most suck (hint: always bring your own EVDO). In my experience the hallways and networking are vastly more valuable than listening to most speakers, panels and breakout events.

But politics? Really?

Who goes to technical conferences with political agendas? Why? Who started this trend? Was it Chris Pirillo by inviting John Edwards to speak at his annual Gnomedex event? Why didn’t he invite a Republican to counter this? I’m guessing he didn’t have any Republicans who wanted to come? I just pinged him on Skype and asked if any Republicans ever approached him to speak at a tech conference? Maybe he’ll respond below, because he didn’t reply in time before this went to publish. (Update 1:19pm PST: Chris responded — only Edwards)

Recently Republican candidate Mitt Romney responded first to Techcrunch about doing a podcast interview. There were 76 comments, some of them containing some very good possible questions. That seems like a better forum to discuss tech-related political concerns than at a tech conference.

If I want to go to a political event, I’ll go to a rally not a tech conference. I’ll spend time at political websites and interacting at political forums, which is what I’ve been doing the last couple weeks. I’m not saying some new, interesting, cool technology behind a political site shouldn’t be covered at a tech conference, but I don’t go to a tech conference to get the soft or hard sell for a political party or individual candidate, do you?

According to darkmoon’s post, apparently some do.

At least some are very concerned about how partisan a conference is or isn’t and want to voice their frustration about it after the event has ended. When he first mentioned this to me in IRC, I was kind of surprised this was a big deal. Those who are freaking out over partisanship at tech conference planners should keep staying home and letting others go. Or form your own political conference with tech as a secondary focus maybe? Those who are planning TECH conferences should try their best, and darkmoon contends they do, to keep these TECH conferences as non-partisan as possible.

Every conference has their conflicts. As somebody who once was part of a conference that focused on the adult industry, the big deal there was webmistresses (female webmasters) not wanting to be treated like models (content). At those conferences the political concerns centered around 2257 laws. Understandably each type of conference has hot button issues. Easiest way to avoid them? Just tell people to check their hangups at the door or don’t come. And if they can’t follow these rules during the conference politely show them the door.

As for the people who bitch and moan that they aren’t coming? Listen, thank them for the feedback and try to integrate these suggestions into next year’s event if they are the prospective audience you wish to attend.

I’m not into guns personally but this one made me smile. It’s a bit creepy if your friends — and foes — don’t know you for having a twisted sense of humor, so caution advised.

It’s supposed to be for foe’s only, but friends or family might think see this bullet as a joke email. I normally dislike joke email, but personalized joke mail like this once in a great might make me smile. Update: Here’s an example of what the email looks like:

No to ban on assault weapons
And now let me be serious for a moment.

In case you were wondering, despite never owning a gun or being part of the NRA, I’m against a ban on assault weapons. Sorry for shoehorning in something political into a joke post, but at least one reader was curious why I’m against a ban on assault weapons and since I don’t write about guns very often, I figured this was an opportunity. I’m against more government encroachment on our constitutional rights almost 100%. I’m for less government, not more. I’m for fiscal responsibility in government.

And speaking of weapons, and going back to entertainment, Saw 4 this Friday in theaters everywhere.

What a strange post. Hey, it’s almost Halloween. Conveniently categorized in the 666 category.

Kept next to my desk is a $2 bill which to date I’ve always thought of as kind of a novelty.

If the U.S dollar value continues to slide then this $2 bill might move back into fashion someday — seriously. Washington economic consultant Charles McMillion calculates 20.5% of the US dollar’s value has decreased since October 2002. McMillion has his eye on the Australian dollar being possibly the next to pass the US dollar if the situation doesn’t change.

See the downward spiral of the US Dollar using the Yahoo currency converter.

via gulfnews.com:

During that five year period, the dollar is down 43.9 per cent against the euro, down 61.8 per cent against the Canadian dollar, down 10.2 per cent against the Chinese yuan, down 5.6 per cent against the Japanese yen, down 30.6 per cent against the British pound, and up 5.8 per cent against the Mexican peso.

Wow, we’re only gaining ground on the Mexican peso under the Bush administration? Now there’s something to hang your hat on, President Bush. When will somebody in the White House realize we can’t afford the Iraq war? Forget about revenge, nation rebuilding or whatever idealistic middle east fantasies we have, let’s pull the troops out of there ASAP and work on restoring financial stability on our own soil.

Looking over the 24 logos below for the 2008 presidential candidates, which logo do you like best? You can vote on the enlarged versions by clicking the logo you like the best at logovoting.com.

I’m attracted to the American flag, so +1 for Gravel, Hillary, Gore, Pataki, Kucinich and Colbert. Unless you’re photogenic, and most political candidates aren’t, don’t put your photo in your logo, score -5 for Gingrich and Thompson. The cartoon drawing of Thompson makes him look like he’s constipated. Quick, somebody send Thompson some Pepto Bismo.

I like the thought behind the sphere with a sun rising in the distance over the flag in Obama’s logo, but the sun should be yellow and the image is too small. Speaking of too small, Mitt Romney, dude. The text beneath Giuliani’s name is also unreadable. C’mon Mitt and Rudy, only the 18-24 demographic is going to be able to read that font size! Don’t forget the seniors and us 30- and 40-somethings with worsening vision.

I’m not sure what McCain, Tancredo, Edwards, Hagel, Biden, Hunter and the internet favorite Ron Paul are doing with those too simplistic logos. Huckabee’s logo looks like he’s running to be a window washer, not President. Richardson and Brownback must have had the same designer. Gilmore’s flag is off and he’s got too much happening there.

Who’s left? The red on white in Thompson’s logo is a bit hard on the eyes. Dodd? Looks like a license plate, not a logo. And why the two stars on each side with 2008 in the middle? Am I missing something here?

Politics completely aside, and going strictly off logo design attractiveness above, my top three favorites? Gore, Hillary and Gravel. Gore’s logo grabs me, unfortunately Gore has not announced he’s running. So since I’m voting for the Presidential candidate with the best logo I’m going with Hillary with Mike Gravel a close second (sorry Mike, the runner-up click doesn’t count). I’m probably most disappointed with Ron Paul’s and John Edwards’ logos, both of whom have many internet friends and should have been able to create something better.

Your vote for the best logo?
Once you click your choice, you’ll see the vote tallies. I won’t give away the leader as of this writing, but I will spoil that it wasn’t my choice. Now what do you think, which Presidential candidate has the best logo? And did you pick #1?

Congratulations to Al Gore for earning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with the Intergovermental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC).

Since hearing this news yesterday, I’ve been wondering why Gore wasn’t elected President in 2000. Not to open old wounds here, but did the whole Monica Lewinsky sideshow with Bill Clinton damage sully the 2000 race? Or was it simply a lackluster Gore campaign? He got the popular vote it seems, but the electoral college votes are the ones that ultimately matter.

For many who figured Gore would go where coulda-shoulda Presidential candidates who were Vice Presidents go, he re-emerged with a movie about global environmental threats that won an Oscar called An Inconvenient Truth. Gore’s actions for raising public awareness about potential problems in our environment is what bagged him the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday.

Gore is in some fascinating company with past Nobel Peace Prize winners like:

2002 - Jimmy Carter Jr - former President of the United States of America for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.
1993 - Nelson Mandela (Leader of the ANC) and Fredrik Willem De Klerk (President of the Republic of South Africa), from acceptance speech:

“We stand here today as nothing more than a representative of the millions of our people who dared to rise up against a social system whose very essence is war, violence, racism, oppression, repression and the impoverishment of an entire people.”

1990 - Mikhail SergeYevich Gorbachev - President of the USSR, helped to bring the Cold War to an end.
1989 - The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) - Tibet. Religious and political leader of the Tibetan people.
1979 - Mother Teresa - India, Leader of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity.
1977 - Amnesty International - London, Great Britain. A worldwide organization for the protection of the rights of prisoners of conscience.
1973 - Henry A. Kissinger (USA) and Le Duc Tho (Democratic Republic of Viet Nam) for jointly negotiating the Vietnam peace accord in 1973. Le Duc Tho declined the prize (was he the only one to ever do that?)
1964 - Martin Luther King Jr. - leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, campaigner for civil rights.
1952 - Albert Schweitzer - Missionary surgeon, Founder Lambaréné Hospital in République du Gabon.
1919 - Thomas Woodrow Wilson - President of the United States of America and founder of the League of Nations
1906 - Theodore Roosevelt - President of the United States of America who drew up the 1905 peace treaty between Russia and Japan.

Al Gore’s tech ties
Gore may not have “invented the internet” as he’s been derided in the past for allegedly claiming — which he actually never did — he does have some strong technology connections.

In contrast to other Nobel Peace Prize winners in recent years, Mr. Gore is a multimillionaire who has built a media and high-tech empire around himself and his environmental work. He is an adviser to Google, sits on the board of Apple and is the chairman and co-founder of Current TV, a cable network with 38 million subscribers. He receives up to $175,000 per speaking appearance, although he waives or reduces his fee for some nonprofit companies and schools. Fast Company magazine has estimated his net worth at more than $100 million.

I know many feel (with good cause) that the election was stolen from John Kerry in Florida in 2004, but what about 2000 for Gore?

Gore has been sticking by the story that he isn’t interested in running for President again and with the Prize in his back pocket, that’s inarguably a higher honor. Even if he doesn’t enter the race, this creates a very powerful ally for the Democrats in the 2008 race.

So will the Democrats get a Clinton / Obama ticket or possibly another — not out of the realm of possibility — Clinton/Gore ticket? For the betting types, the odds on Gore running are down from 100 to 1 to 8 to 1. Personally, I hope Gore doesn’t enter the race. What about you? Would you rather see him than Obama? I think whether or not you like Hillary Clinton, she is going to be on the ticket. The question is more likely will Clinton be the Vice President candidate as Geraldine Ferraro once was (and lost in 1984) or the Presidential candidate?

Following the race in 2008
I just registered for the site Political Base and will be following the 2008 race closer than the 2004 race. This election is shaping up to be the most important one in my voting life to date and I want to keep informed.

You might note from the image above that I classified myself as a moderate in the political arena. That’s true. I’ve voted both Republican and Democrat in the past on the local level. I’m more left of center than right, but I can weigh issues and candidates based on what I believe they will do for this country regardless of their political party affiliation. As far as past presidents and the current administration: I liked Reagan and Clinton but don’t care for either of the Bush clan.

The ability to see who Spock was giving campaign contributions to was the ‘logical’ clincher to join Political Base. I’m sure it’s merely the first of many political sites I’ll be registering for leading up to the 2008 election. As I’ve done with virtual worlds, the Mac and other topics deserving dedicated coverage, I’m planning to discuss politics occasionally (moreso than in 2004) and pursue in more depth elsewhere at sites like Political Base. You can find me there as my name wasn’t taken.

Seriously, there is a lot at stake in this country and abroad and we need to make sure the right people get in office in 2008 — if that’s even possible. I want the soldiers to come home, would like to see a balanced budget and/or at least some sort of fiscal responsibility in the White House and perhaps most importantly, we need to rebuild our relationship with foreign countries, and yes, Mr. Gore, the environment and future needs to become more important.

A lot of people around the world dislike America right now and should we blame them? It’s important to understand that not all of the American people support what’s happening here politically right now. We have a chance in 2008 to make some positive changes. I hope, along with people like Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, we can.

At Poodwaddle, you’ll find a bunch of different clocks, including the US Crime Stats that updates while you watch:

Nice design, but a bit depressing. Even more depressing is the Bush countdown clock which shows Mr. President still has 492 days left in office as of this writing. Why can’t the election be this November?

Today, the anniversary of Nixon’s resignation, is a great day to reflect on how lousy the current head of the White House and this great nation is performing on the job. Oh, how I’d love to hear the following words emerge from President George Bush’s mouth today:

“By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in America,” he said. “I regret deeply any injuries that may have been done in the course of the events that led to this decision. I would say only that events that if some of my judgments were wrong — and some were wrong — they were made in what I believed at the time to be the best interests of the nation.”

Bush is the worst President of the United States since I’ve been alive. And yes, absolutely positively I’ll take the one quoted above who claimed he was “not a crook” over the guy in the White House currently. Raise the dead. Bring Nixon back. At least he did some things right with foreign policy.

Let’s run down the list. National debt under Bush better or worse? Worse. Foreign relations better or worse? Much worse. Safety and security of the nation better or worse? Worse. Bush gets an F across the board.

Last weekend I stopped off to see my grandmother who lived and worked through WWII and seen her share of presidents over the last century. She confirmed Bush was worse than Nixon, but not as bad as Hoover. It’s not just me that thinks Bush is a horrible president, historians are already coming to this conclusion too.

Bush had a rare chance after 9/11 to rally most of the world around America and what did he do? He marched us into a civil war in Iraq searching for phantom weapons of mass destruction. I’m sure Bush supporters — of which I don’t understand how any can be left that aren’t directly benefiting from his moves — will remind that his panel of experts were telling him Saddam had the WMDs, but we’ve seen dick. And meanwhile our brave men and women soldiers keep losing their lives while Osama Bin Laden roams free.

Why can’t this be the last year, month, week or day that Bush remains in office? Somebody tell me really what has Bush done in office that’s actually been positive? None of the politicians out there are perfect these days, but can anybody in the bid for election in 2008 be worse than Bush?

I’d gladly vote for a good Republican if such a creature actually exists. Sadly, the Democrats aren’t much better. We need a third party to emerge as a true force. The Common Sense party with a real business person in charge of the country instead of somebody who bends over for special interest groups.

Bush has taken this disdain for law even further. He has sought to strip people accused of crimes of rights that date as far back as the Magna Carta in Anglo-American jurisprudence: trial by impartial jury, access to lawyers and knowledge of evidence against them. In dozens of statements when signing legislation, he has asserted the right to ignore the parts of laws with which he disagrees. His administration has adopted policies regarding the treatment of prisoners of war that have disgraced the nation and alienated virtually the entire world. Usually, during wartime, the Supreme Court has refrained from passing judgment on presidential actions related to national defense. The court’s unprecedented rebukes of Bush’s policies on detainees indicate how far the administration has strayed from the rule of law.

And what about our infrastructure being more secure with Bush in office? No way. Look at the sad, sorry state of bridges around the country. 12% of them are structurally deficient. Katrina showed how absolutely incompetent the government is by how long it took to get aid to the people of New Orleans. Get our soldiers home and start diverting some tax dollars to create some real security on home soil.

Please do the right thing and step down, President Bush. Let somebody else get in there and start the healing and trying to patch up damaged relations both at home and abroad. We’ve got people in other countries who hate the American people, hate hardworking taxpayers like me, because they think we support your power hungry decisions. I didn’t vote for you and don’t support the mess you’ve created. I respect you as president the same way I respect vomit rising in my stomach. I want you to step down and resign like Nixon did. Today. Tomorrow. Soon.

Watergate was a picnic to the disaster Bush has created.

My favorite non-tech magazine growing up was Mad Magazine. The spoofs on tv shows and movies are legendary. It’s good to see their humor is still as zany as ever. With Pirates of the Constitution, your desktop may never be the same. Mad also offers a Fanatic Four download. It’s still too bad Mad isn’t available digitally, but maybe they are recycling.