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With only one week to go until the US Elections, it seems that at least 75% of you out there (if you’re voting) are planning to wait until November 4th.  My question is, “Why?”  If your State supports early voting, you really should go and get it over with.  We all know that most people are procrastinators, and when it comes to voting a lot of people think that their vote doesn’t count.  Well, just remember, your vote always counts if you use it… the way a lot of people “win” their elections is by hoping their opponents supports don’t vote.

As far as the election itself, it is currently assumed that with his stable 5 point lead Obama is untouchable and will be our next President, but history shows that’s not always the way it goes.  Just look at the Gallup poll of Nixon vs Humphrey:

In 1968, the race between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey narrowed over the last month of the campaign, from double-digit leads for Nixon in late September to only an 8-point lead for him among registered voters in polling conducted Oct. 17-22. By Gallup’s final pre-election survey, conducted Oct. 29-Nov. 2, Nixon held only a 1-point edge among likely voters, and ultimately won the election on Nov. 5 by less than 1 percentage point, 43.4% to 42.7%.

As you can see, Nixon just barely won, even though Humphrey was way behind until the very end.  Actually, in the past, the polls have never been that accurate, as you can see in this chart:

The polls showed higher numbers 9 times outof the past 14 elections… in fact, when polling higher, it averaged 6.59 points higher.  When polling lower, it averaged 3.2 points lower.  So, what does that all mean for Barack Obama?  It means that his supporters shouldn’t just assume that he has it made since he’s polling 5 points higher… for John McCain, it means his supporters need to get out en masse and try to win this thing.  It’s been reported that in California, a State where Obama is polled at +18, when it comes to over 210,000 early voters, he’s ahead by only 1000 votes (just +0.5), so yeah, your vote does count.

To sum this entire post up:

GO VOTE.  DON’T WAIT.  YOUR DEADLINE IS 7 DAYS AWAY.

Today we remember the tragic events of September 11th, 2001.  It’s been seven years already, and yet the ringleader of the terrorists behind these attacks still roams free.  The war in Iraq still trudges forward and the hunt for Osama bin Laden is still out of the spotlight.

Hopefully whoever the next president is, be it Barack Obama, John McCain, or even a third party candidate, they will help protect this country from any further attacks and step up the hunt to bring bin Laden to justice.

It’s hard to believe it’s been seven years since that day… if you had a child the day of the attacks, they’d be entering second grade this year.  It’s amazing how time flies and how old wounds tend to take longer to heal.  In related news, they’ve finally finished the design for the WTC Memorial entrance… I really hope that the buildings are started (and completed) sometime soon.

So, as is custom, where was I, the morning of September 11th, 2001?  I was in bed and had been woken up by Jessica when it first came on the news.  I then spent the rest of the day trying to call relatives who live within a few miles of the towers.  Luckily none were injured

Where were you?

Lately, with all the constant talk of controversies with the current crop of White House hopefulls, I was thinking… why do we, as Americans, stand for this kind of garbage?  “Obama is a secret Muslim,” “Sarah Palin didn’t have her last child,” and so on.  This type of thing is just crazy.  Is Obama running for “President of the Christians”?  Is Palin trying to achieve the post of “VP of Five Children”?  No?  Then what does any of it matter?

These types of stories are usually seen in the gossip mags at the supermarket checkout line, not spouted out over CNN.  People act like these are the big stories.  “Didja hear?  Sarah Palin’s husband had a DWI back in 1984!”  So?  What are her feelings on the conflict in South Ossetia?  “The news just said that Obama’s house cost $1.65 million!”  Okay… did the news say what his plan is to help fix our runaway national debt?

Why is it that it seems most of us Americans don’t choose the leader of our country based upon their track record or what they stand for, but rather, by their feelings?  If your company allowed you to “vote” on your next company president, would you be asking hard hitting questions like “has he/she ever cheated on their spouse” or would you ask things like “would they clamp down on useless company spending?”  It’s amazing to me that the key issues seem to play little role in politics, and whenever they come up, people usually accept answers that usually make little sense (example: “I plan to cut taxes and at the same time I’m going to start all these new projects!”).

I know this isn’t a long (or in depth) post, just something I’m a little fed up with.  When I’m online or around the office, I didn’t hear discussions about Obama not wanting to fund NASA or McCain seeking to add Amendments to the Constitution.  No, I hear about Obama not wearing a lapel pin, or that it was rumored that McCain had an affair with a lobbyist.  It’s just ridiculous to me that these are the “issues” that the average person cares about.

You know, both parties and almost all candidates this year preached that they’re bringing some kind of change, but to be honest, I don’t see it anywhere.

These are my daily “Good to Know” links for 04/16/08 … please enjoy:

11 – the beautiful game | 11 the Game

Many new football stadiums have a strong architectural and sculptural beauty, becoming city landmarks in their own right and enhancing the landscape of the environment. We wanted the design of our football table to be equally spectacular and memorable.

Turn Your iPod Touch into an iPhone | Lifehacker

Let's say you would like to use it make a phone call every now and then with your iPod Touch. You can, and he is how you can make VoIP phone calls from your iPod touch using a freeware application called SIP-VoIP.

Coral flourishing at Bikini Atoll atomic test site | Yahoo! News

Coral is again flourishing in the crater left by the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated by the United States, 54 years after the blast on Bikini Atoll, marine scientists said on Tuesday.

Programmer pops question on girlfriend's video game | chicagotribune.com

Hiding a ring in a bouquet just wasn't enough when a computer programmer decided to pop the question. Bernie Peng reprogrammed Tammy Li's favorite video game, "Bejeweled," so a ring and a marriage proposal would show up when she reached a certain score.

David Weiner: McCain "Family Recipes" Lifted from the Food Network | The Huffington Post

On a section of McCain's site called "Cindy's Recipes," you can find recipes attributed to Cindy McCain, each with the title "McCain Family Recipe." It was realized that some of these "Family Recipes," were in fact, exact copies of Food Network recipies.

Come back for more links tomorrow!!